Main Idea: Praying in faith moves the mountains we face.

Today we come to our fourth practice in our series "Spring Training: 7 Practices for a Winning Life". We have said that a practice is any activity that we can do that will help us gain the power to live life as Jesus taught and modeled. We have also said that a winning life is a life that effectively pleases God and brings me joy. The practices for a winning life that we have looked at so far are: we are to answer the call of Christ to follow him fully, learn what it means to abide or remain in Christ daily and how to live in his Word continually. Today we are going to talk about what I believe is the most difficult practice for a winning life and that is to pray in faith.

In each of these messages we have used the idea of Spring Training in baseball as a bridge to connect with a very basic spiritual practice. One of the most fascinating things to watch in baseball is the signals that are given by the manager or coach to a batter or player. What looks like someone having a nervous fit is really the way the plays are communicated to a batter or a player on the field. There are multiple signals or signs that can be used depending on what the manager has determined for that particular game. There is one key signal called the indicator that is the sign for the play. The motions before that and after that are decoys to keep the other team from knowing what you are doing. It is the players’ responsibility to pick up the signal without acknowledgement that the right signal has been given. The most important thing for the player is to pick up the signal. Davey Johnson, former manager of the New York Mets, said, "Guys don’t miss signs. You don’t get to the big leagues and miss signs. It’s real important. If they do, it undermines everything…It’s one of the biggest parts of baseball." (The Journal News, May 25, 2005)

The signals between managers and players in baseball are really about the communication necessary to win a game and play effectively. The circumstances of our lives are one of the key ways that God communicates his "signals" or "signs" in order to show us how to live effectively pleasing him and bringing joy to our lives. I don’t mean that he does this by some miraculous event but he does it through the living of life. If we fail to pick up on the signal then we miss the point of the circumstance. The best way for us for us to make sure we don’t miss what God is telling us is to develop the practice of praying in faith. What Jesus teaches us in our passage today is that praying in faith moves the mountains we face.

The verses surrounding our text for this morning contain one of the most perplexing stories in the gospels. They begin on what we call Palm Sunday as Jesus enters Jerusalem with His disciples. They don’t stay long and go back to Bethany about five miles from Jerusalem. On Monday they leave Bethany to go back to Jerusalem. On their way back Mark records this event, "The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus felt hungry. He noticed a fig tree a little way off that was in full leaf, so he went over to see if he could find any figs on it. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat your fruit again!’ And the disciples heard him say it." (Mk. 11:12-14).

Later after arriving in the city of Jerusalem Jesus enters the Temple and is enraged at those who were abusing God’s place of prayer. In a bold move he throws them out of the Temple thereby cleansing it and making it ready for its true purpose. On Tuesday morning they leave Bethany and are going back to Jerusalem. The disciples see that the fig tree Jesus has cursed is dead. "The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it was withered from the roots. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, ‘Look, Teacher! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’ (Mk.11:20-21)

So what’s the explanation? The fig tree was a sign or signal of something Jesus wanted to teach his disciples. Remember that Jesus and his disciples had been in Jerusalem -- the center of life for the nation of Israel. Jesus knew that in a few days His death would make useless the Jewish sacrificial system. The Temple would have no purpose any longer. All around it seemed that the nation of Israel was flourishing. It appeared to be productive and effective, just like the fig tree. Yet when God looked for real results all he found was useless, wasteful ritual with no life. So when Jesus came to the fig tree, which was a symbol for Israel in the Old Testament, to find fruit, he found none, though it looked like there should have been fruit on it. So he pronounces a curse on the tree (v. 14) and the tree dies. Peter pointed out to Jesus that the tree was dead. Then Jesus gives an unparalleled teaching on praying in faith.

What was his point? How does he make the jump from a dead fig tree to teaching about praying in faith? I believe he was teaching them that everything that the disciples had trusted before now to relate them to God was about to be removed. When that happened the only thing they will have left is their faith in God. Their only hope of survival is to trust God to get them through. Their world was about to change forever; therefore, praying in faith to move the mountains they faced was the key to their survival. So, when Jesus cursed the fig tree he was using it as a signal or sign to direct their faith.

Now where do we fit in? This story causes us to ask the question, "How do I respond when I can’t trust what I’ve always trusted?" What do you do when what you counted on can’t be counted on? For some, that happens when we or someone in our family becomes sick or injured. For others, it happens when someone we love dies or someone buys our company and tells us we have to move because our check is being sent to another city. It happens when a husband or wife tells you, "I don’t love you anymore." It may happen when a son or daughter disappoints you and breaks your heart. It can happen when you have failed morally and you can’t seem to work your way out this time.

In all of those circumstances God is sending you a signal that you have a "mountain" that is bigger than you and the only thing that is going to get you through is faith in him. The reason this is a "practice" for a Christian is that regardless of the circumstance or the size of the mountain praying in faith is the most basic prayer there is for a believer. If we don’t pray to God in faith then we are wasting God’s time and ours. Every one of us is living in the shadow of some mountain that just will not move on our own power. Our problem is we get so used to the problem that we forget that there is hope. We hear these words of Jesus and immediately our mind rationalizes why they can’t work for us. As if God needs excuses and reasons from us to explain why we still have our problem and things are no different. Believe me, I have stood by enough of you who have prayed with faith and the mountain you wanted moved just got bigger. Regardless of what our personal experience is, I can’t tell you, "Jesus wasn’t serious here. You can believe John 3:16 but when it comes to praying in faith, well, that just doesn’t work." Then Jesus didn’t mean what He said. When are we going to quit defending the size of the mountain and pray for God to move it! Without apology, I want us to believe that praying in faith moves the mountains we face!

How do you pray in faith? I find four principles that Jesus gave in verses 22-25. Here they are:

Praying in faith means you focus on God, not the mountain (v. 22). Jesus commanded us to "Have faith in God." He did not say, "Have faith in your skills, family, economy, other Christians…" He said, "Have faith in God." In other words, stop looking at the mountain; look for the God who can move them and stands over them.

In July 1989 two University of Minnesota physicists were testing a special camera. They decided to focus it on a thunderstorm coming over Duluth, Minnesota. As the storm grew, they began to see flashes of light above the storm. They got it on film and were the first to record the natural phenomena called "sprites." Sprites are jolts of energy and light that occur above storms. They can be thirty miles wide and forty miles tall. They happen quicker than the human eye can perceive them. They are difficult to see but leave you with the impression, "What was that?"

The mountain you face may seem to be all there is. It’s not. God is above it, beyond it and greater than it. You’ve got to take your eyes off the problem and focus on God.

Praying in faith means you listen to your faith not your doubt (v. 23). Jesus continued, "I assure you that you can say to this mountain, 'May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,' and your command will be obeyed. All that's required is that you really believe and do not doubt in your heart." Now, all that Jesus is doing here is showing us that no one could exaggerate the power of faith greater than he could. In that statement he brings us to the real issue: the conflict of faith and doubt. You see faith calls to that part of us that emotionally appeals for us to bring our need to God and to trust him. Unbelief is refusal to come to God at all with my needs. Doubt is like a sickness that attacks our mind and says what you believe can’t happen.

If our mountain doesn’t move then we foolishly think that our job is to squeeze out more faith and then if we have more faith then God is able to work. The disciples had the same idea because one day they came to Jesus and said, "We need more faith; tell us how to get it." Jesus response was clear, "Even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed…you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May God uproot you and throw you into the sea,’ and it would obey you!" (Luke 17:5-6) What Jesus is saying is that all the faith you need is faith enough to pray. Faith doesn’t help God; it merely gives him access to our mountain. Faith says you have come to God. Doubt says he can’t be trusted. God says, "Trust me." Who are you going to believe? If we keep listening to our doubt then the mountain is permanent. If we listen to our faith mountains move.

Praying in faith means we expect God to act, not explain why he can’t. (v. 24) In verse 24 Jesus says, "Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it." This verse uses three different tenses to get us to understand prayer. This is clearer in the NASV, "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." It uses the present tense "all things for which you pray and ask…" The past tense, "believe that you have received them" and the future, "and they shall be granted you." We want to skip that middle tense. We wan to pray for whatever we want and then wait for the answer. What we don’t understand is that God wants us to expect him to act. Most of our praying is just a confession of how helpless we are. We cry out but don’t have any hope of faith that God will really act. So we use all kinds of excuses for why we still have our mountain.

God is anxious to help. The power of prayer is in the One who hears the prayer, not the one who speaks it. Expect God to act. Don’t defend Him.

Praying in faith means removing any hindrances instead of excusing our resistance (v. 25). Jesus concludes by saying, "But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too." Isn’t it amazing, as Jesus teaches on prayer, God’s power and the effectiveness of faith, the only thing that limits removing the mountain is our own resistance. The particular resistance he addresses here is that of a grudge we hold against someone else! We think it doesn’t matter. That no one knows. Yet it may be the reason the mountain doesn’t move. The reason the problem doesn’t go away is not the fault of the mountain but the failure to forgive. If you expect the mountain to move, then we must remove what is blocking His power.

As I prepared this message I had to fight back tears of confusion for the mountains in your lives as well as the mountains in my own. Tears that come because I know how much many of you have believed that the mountain you faced would move and it didn’t budge an inch. Instead it just grew bigger until it fell in on top of you. No matter how many conditions and variables I would want to put on this practice of praying in faith I don’t get to choose. Jesus said, "Have faith in God and mountains will be moved." I can’t walk away from that because the question I have to ask myself is, "Where are you going to go for help?"

Today through the mountain you face in your life God is giving you a signal to have faith in him. Are you picking up the signal? This practice is so obvious that to miss it is to miss a vital key to winning life. What are you going to do? Jesus says, "Praying in faith moves the mountains we face." He is not asking you to try to force yourself to believe or deny doubt. You might as well try to stop the sun. The light that needs to dispel your shadow is that we bring everything to Jesus, no matter how difficult. I don’t need to be frightened away by my doubts or weak faith but only tell Jesus how weak my faith is. I have let Jesus into my heart. After I do that the mountain is up to him.

Sunday, March 4, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org